In recent years more foods have been packaged in flexible packaging materials. This is especially true in the area of snack foods, i.e, foods such as corn chips, potato chips, pretzels, and the like. This invention is especially directed to snack food packages, but it is also applicable to other types of flexible packages as well.
In the development of snack food packages those skilled in the art have recognized that the packages and the methods of making them must meet certain requirements. An especially important requirement of such packages, especially insofar as snack foods are concerned, is that the package should have good barrier properties, that is, it should be moisture proof and oxygen proof. This is required so that the contents are fresh and edible even when the package has remained on the shelf for an extended period of time. From the consumer standpoint, the package should be transparent so that the contents of the package may be easily viewed. The packaging material employed must be of a type which can be easily printed upon so that the printed matter is clearly and easily visible.
In addition to the functional requirements just mentioned, it has also been recognized that the cost of producing these packages is a very significant consideration. In the past functional characteristics have usually been sacrificed in order to achieve an economical method of production. Therefore there exists in the art a need for a snack food package which can be economically manufactured and which achieves the performance characteristics referred to above.